By Anthony Barich
A MAJOR national Catholic gathering in April seeks to end the ‘welfare mentality’ and empower families to be major agents to evangelise and to transform the world.
The 15-17 April third National Family Gathering at Australian Catholic University in Kew, themed Share the Dream: Families Transforming the World, will target the “Why Generation” – 16 to 25 year olds who are searching for vocation and meaning in life.
With a youth forum, catechesis, adoration and Stations of the Cross, the conference will feature French Bishop Jean Laffitte, Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Family, discussing why understanding self and sexuality is essential to happiness.
The concept of the family as a major agent for evangelising the family, the Church and the world has been central to the Australian Catholic Marriage and Family Council (ACMFC), which organised the conference hosted by Australian Catholic University.
It was also a major theme at the Sixth World Encounter of Families in Mexico in 2009, and subsequently the theme of an International Congress convened in Rome last November by the Pontifical Council for the Family was Family, subject of evangelisation.
The Rome congress stressed that in the difficult challenges of family life when people dare to hope and courageously try again, they become especially open to God’s grace and become “very effective evangelisers”.
The congress reinforced the importance of a key statement from Pope John Paul II’s 1999 Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Asia: “The family is not simply the object of the Church’s pastoral care; it is also one of the Church’s most effective agents of evangelisation.”
Cardinal Ennio Antonielli, President of the Pontifical Council for the Family, told the Congress that, alone, families find things hard; but in small communities they find strength in each other. “Such mutual support should happen at parish level,” he said, but added that it can be “much enhanced” by major gatherings like the Kew conference.
Ron and Mavis Pirola, ACMFC chair couple who attended the Rome congress on behalf of the Australian Bishops, told The Record that concept of the family as an evangelising agent is “not very well understood or even accepted”.
“People often talk about pastoral ministry to families; it’s often about a welfare mentality, which is important but is already well entrenched,” said Ron and Mavis, who have been married 51 years. “Both evangelisation of the family and by the family can occur.
“The family can evangelise just by being what it is – based on marriage which takes its origin from the sacrament; it’s a community of love which, by its nature, is a naturally expanding thing.
“Therefore, when this is lived out, it spreads love to other people and becomes an evangelising force by its nature. This is something families do; they just don’t realise they’re doing it. If you can make people realise what they are doing and are capable of doing, they’ll do it better – that’s with all the ups and downs with family life.
“We’re not talking about the so-called perfect families; it’s when they live through the difficult times of relationships which every family goes through.
“Natural crises are the growth points, when they build their strength. Love doesn’t actually grow until you have to test it. It’s a natural part of relationship building, and gives them a lot to offer society.
“Families don’t always appreciate that. They tend to think ‘we have problems and are not the perfect family’; they don’t see themselves as the evangelising force that they can be.”
Jonathan Doyle, co-founder of values-based educational resource producer Choicez Media, will also address the April conference on what it means to be a Christian man today.
Sydney’s Archdiocesan Life, Marriage and Family Centre policy officer Dr Brigid McKenna will discuss the importance of understanding the dignity and beauty of being a Christian woman.
For information call (03) 9287 5579, email imf@cam.org.au or go to www.sharethedream.org.au.